Ottheinrich's Bible

Ottheinrich’s Bible

Named after its traceable owner, the Ottheinrich Bible is the oldest preserved illuminated German-language manuscript of the New Testament. Next to the German text, the manuscript distinguishes itself above all because of its illumination. The work originates from several important masters of the Regensburg School during the 15th century and was fully completed 100 years later with the creation of the furnishings by Matthias Gerung in the style of the German Renaissance. The checkered ownership history of the bible testifies to its unique place in Art History.

The First Illustrated New Testament in German

As opposed to the Latin version of the bible, which could only be read by highly educated people and the clergy, the Ottheinrich Bible is written in New High German and was therefore understandable to a layperson. First, this remarkable text was written in Ingolstadt, whereupon the manuscript was sent to Regensburg to be illuminated.
Its 146 half- or full-page miniatures shine through the application of expensive materials, e.g. the golden backgrounds or the vivid, eye-catching colors, which are made for the most part with equally expensive mineral and other materials like azure or magenta. Next to the panel-painting-like primary images, which illustrate the biblical text, one cannot help but be fascinated by the sweeping and skillfuly draped tendrils, which appear more commonly at the beginning and then less often later on, and artfully designed colored or gilded initials. With regard to the artists of the older illumination (around 1430), three different masters can be distinguished, who most certainly worked on this Bible in Regensburg. Some originated from the so-called Salzburg Studio of the Grillinger Bible and from the circle of the important Masters of the Worchester Carrying of the Cross. The work of these artists is limited to the pages up to the Gospel of Mark.
The Lauingen painter Matthias Gerung was primarily responsible for the greater part of the interior of the manuscript, realised ca. 1530–32 . He oriented his work on the greatest works of his time. Thus, his Apocalypse miniatures were directly influenced by Albrecht Dürer’s woodcarvings.

The Enigmatic Patron

The initial patron of the Ottheinrich Bible was only recently determined to be Duke Ludwig “the Bearded” of Bavaria-Ingolstadt. Before his rule, he spent a long time in the French court with his sister Elizabeth, the French Queen Isabella of Bavaria. In a leafy border of the book, a French motto is incorporated, which became a trademark for him. Mysteriously, the manuscript was never completed during the lifetime of Ludwig, but was still bound into a thick volume for the most part.

A Checkered Past of Ownership

Ludwig’s inheritance would be passed down through the Landshut branch of the Wittelsbach family, and thereby came into the possession of Count Palatine Ottheinrich, who would lend it his name. The book was later sent to Neuburg an der Donau and finally to Heidelberg. It was Ottheinrich who commissioned Matthias Gerung to complete the book. During the confusion of the 30 Years War, the book was brought to Munich in 1622 as war booty by the Prince Elector Maximillian I of Bavaria, from whence it was subsequently taken in 1632 by invading Swedes to Weimar and finally to Gotha. The Ottheinrich Bible remained in Gotha for the next three hundred years and was a highlight of their collection known as the Gothaic Bible. In the 19th century, the book was parted into eight pieces and ended up in the 20th century in two parts; three volumes were acquired by Munich’s Bavarian State Library in 1950, while the other five remained with the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Foundation for Art and Science. The empty cover remained in Gotha. The spectacular acquisition of the remaining five volumes in 2007 brought an eventful chapter to a close, reuniting the Ottheinrich Bible at the Bavarian State Library. Its historic binding enriched the reunited work when it followed on permanent loan from Gotha in 2008.